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Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books

864   370. TURCOMANIE

Theoretically, the land of the Turcomans (French plural) or Türkmän, a name of wide and

changeable application. The origin of the name Türkmän is not clear; the explanation by Persian Türk mânänd, « Turk-like », although already given in 1076 by Kàyari, cannot be accepted linguistically, but it is not contrary to the facts, as the Türkmän seem to have been from the first Turks who had undergone strong Iranian influence, and perhaps in some cases iranicized Turks. The name appears for the first time in Maqdisi (10th cent.), and is soon applied to the Qariuq and particularly to the Oyuz; it is used in the 12th cent. for the Qarakhanid dynasty of the Iii region, and it is there that « Turcomani » are mentioned one century later by Rubrouck (Wy, 226; BARTHOLD, 12 Vorlesungen, 77, 191, 278). Plan Carpini had used it some years before Rubrouck («Turcomani», in Wy, 89), but in a list of nations without any precision as to its application.

This is not the value of the name in Polo; his Turcomanie is Anatolia, particularly the Central

and Southern part of Anatolia. Some of Polo's contemporaries use the name Turchia for the land, and that of Türkmän (in Ricold, « Thurchimanni ») for the people. The nomad Türkmän of Anatolia still exist, but do not have the same importance as in the Middle Ages (cf. Y, i, 44). Through R and Z, we know that Polo was aware of a wider range of application of the name « Turcomans », as he specifies that the Turcomans of Turcomanie (i. e. Anatolia) are those named « Caramans »

(q. v.).

Polo also speaks of the Turcoman horses; the abnormal « Turquans » adopted in Pa, 37, and Y, I, 43, is certainly a clerical error.

371.  TURQUIE

torqie, turchie F   turchia L, LT, P, TAi, TA3, V,   turchya Z

torquie F, Fr   VA, VB, VL, Z; G, R   turquie F, Ft, FA, FB

While Polo's contemporaries often use « Turquie » for that part of Anatolia which Polo himself calls « Turcomanie », Polo reserves the name for both Turkestans, but, being aware of a possible confusion, then speaks always of « Gran Turchie », Great Turkey, meaning the Cayatai empire or Medium Imperium, particularly that of Qaidu. Before Polo, Benedict the Pole had used « Turkyy » alone for what is now Russian Turkestan (cf. Wy, 138). Nevertheless the name of Turkestan